On Mother’s Day 2024, the GDC Abolition Working Group held a demonstration outside of the Women’s Huron Valley Correctional Facility in solidarity with all of the Moms separated from their loved ones at the hands of the carceral system. In part, the group organized the event in order to show support for a Comrade inside, Krystal Clark, who is facing severe, life threatening medical neglect. All in all, the day was focused on letting all the incarcerated moms know they are loved and not forgotten.
Over 50 people, including friends and family of Krystal and many comrades lined the street across from the prison with signs that stated things like “Free The Moms” “Abolish Prisons” and more. The solidarity and lively energy allowed the love to transcend the suffering that takes place behind prison walls. Music blared on loudspeakers and everyone chanted loudly for all the women to hear. There was an open mic segment where powerful speeches and poetry were shared. Many women held by the prison were outside in the yard and were able to witness the event. Krystal was able to join the protest on the phone. She spoke with her family, including her mother, sister, and cousins, and joined in while a relative of hers led the crowd in a prayer.
GDC would like to thank all the family members that showed up and participated. There was a strong feeling of solidarity. We also want to thank Detroit Jericho, Justice for Gerard Movement/Turning a Moment into a Movement podcast, and everyone that attended and spoke.
We will continue to organize and fight for a world without prisons. Stayed tuned for next steps regarding the campaign to bring Krystal home.
Speech from Comrade Keysha
“Good afternoon, everyone! My name is Keysha and I’m with the Washtenaw General Defense Committee.
We are all here this Mother’s Day in solidarity with all mothers, and all women, and all people, separated from their children by prison bars.
Prison is the violent ripping apart of families, communities, neighborhoods. Prison is the attempted disappearing of our loved ones who have been deemed inconvenient by the state. But what does it mean to be inconvenient, or even dangerous, to a societal order that would violate, attack, lock away its people? That would separate mothers from their children with glee?
Let’s not forget the slave-catching origins of the police force, either. Because it is a force— of control, of domination. One that every criminalized person throughout this country’s bloody history has resisted. Resisting the carceral system is resisting one’s own disappearing.
No one disappears. No one is unremembered. It is a force of violence to attempt to erase someone, to disappear them into this iron labyrinth. But this hot blood that connects us all, that flows from our beating hearts, the essence of our combined resistance, is stronger than any prison.
We stand here not as teachers, or as saviors, but as students in this world, as a single, endless family connected by a shared understanding of the violent repression we all must confront. We are all touched and implicated by the United States’ carceral system. To me, that is not only a symbol of hope, that I am connected with all of you and all of you with me, that, inside or outside, we are all connected; but it is also a promise, a proclamation. As long as my heart beats, as long as this blood runs through my veins, I will fight side-by-side with you, my sisters! We must reject the forced disappearing, the enforced silence, the attempts of this carceral system to make fear and compliance the natural leading order!
FREE THEM ALL!
ALL PRISONS WILL FALL!”